


From bottomless darkness to welcoming light

by hiimnew



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abuse warning, Feels, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Tony Has Issues, Tony Needs a Hug, bright movie soundtrack, hospital stays
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-02-10 08:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12908127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiimnew/pseuds/hiimnew
Summary: Tony is learning to love and trust again after a tragic and abusive past but first he needs rescuing from an abusive father and Phil is learning that even after seeing the worst theres always something darker out there and the other kids are learning that shells are only as strong as the darkness that put them there.





	1. Chapter 1

Tony dragged his feet the heavy duffle bag straining his shoulder as he was forced up a tall steep cliff towards what his father called the den a place he would take tony when someone called either the police or some other law enforcement agency on him. Tony was banged around pretty bad this time, legs bruised and cut, arms covered in bandages hiding cuts, bruises and a fractured wrist, ribs black and blue, hand prints around his neck, and cuts all over his face a black eye. When he finally reached the top of the cliff he saw the dark scary building waiting for him, it was about the size of a medium sized garage, it had no window and only one door which locked from the outside with six different locks on it, the inside was mostly bare cold and concrete. There was only a mattress, a few thin blankets, a mini fridge, a small outhouse bathroom, and a small light hanging from the center of the ceiling it had no heating or any basic needs but at least it had some food and water and a place to sleep so tony wasn’t complaining. A few more steps and then his father’s body guards are pushing him into the building and slamming the door behind him and locking it before banging once against the door and turning to leave in a car waiting for them, his father waiting in the back seat for them. Tony sat on the cold concrete floor for a moment before struggling to get up and drag himself and the bag over to the mattress where he lays down flat on his stomach not bothering to kick off his boots or hoodie. The bag beside him straps still in his grip as his face scrunched up in pain and his body began to curl into itself as the pain finally became over whelming and he could finally just sink into the pain without fearing another beating because of it.

After a few minutes of staying curled tightly into himself tony finally starts to move stiff and painful as he makes his way to the mini fridge and pulls out a water bottle before heading back to the mattress and opening the duffel bag to fish out a bottle of pills. Pills in one hand and water open by his leg on the group tony pours more than needed pills into his palm about ten or so and shoves them in his mouth and gulps them down with water before laying down on the mattress on his back and stares up at the ceiling as the pills kick in. 

…….

Fury stood by his large black SUV commanding the team of SHEILD agents to scourer the Stark residence after they were passed the face of Howard Stark for many different things like server abuse of his son, murder of his wife and terrorist ties. The team was all suited up and on guard as this was not only a high-profile case but also a dangerous one and when Howard opened the door Fury knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Even with Howard know in custody minutes into the search he already lawyered up and the house along with property was just so much space to cover and with all the other houses and property it would be hard to find anything. Fury orders the tech crew to go get anything and everything electronic and start going through it while the rest start searching for any other evidence of crimes. 

. hours later.

“Fury” Fury says answering the phone 

“Nick, its Phil. When are you done?” Phil sounds tired over the phone  
“That’s a stupid question, what’s wrong?” Fury says directing another team of agents

“I can’t handle this by myself Nick, besides you’ve been there for hours have someone take over” Phil says not backing out tired and fed up

“Not until I find the kid alive or his body” Nick said hanging up and walking over to where some agents had found a possible location

“Sir we found this address in the cars GPS” one agent said turning the screen of the computer towards Fury

“Okay, you three with me” Fury called pointing to three nearby agents before turning back to his black SUV and them into a patrol car

Fury and the three agents drove for roughly an hour to two hours before finally finding the building they were looking for hidden deep in the middle of nowhere the building didn’t give off a good feeling so when Fury and his three agents got out of the vehicles they had guns ready. Fury signalled to the agents to keep quiet and where to go before holding his gun ready and rounding the building to the only door and stopping looking at all the locks before shooting all the locks and another agent breaks down the door and the flood into the room. By now the sun was rising again and bringing in just enough light for the small four-man team to see the boy of tony laying on the mattress motionless a bottle of pills spilled beside him and beaten badly. As Fury calls it in another agent rushes to Tony’s side and another goes to wait outside while the final agent runs back to one of the vehicles and grabs a first aid kit and AED before returning to the room. 

An ambulance quickly comes lighting up the dark forest with red and blue flashing lights and the whole night full of sirens and people shouting as they strapped down tony to a gurney and try to bring him back from an overdose and his injuries and he almost didn’t make it back on the ride to the hospital where he is rushed into VIP care and the agents are locked out. Fury calls Phil who comes running and finds Fury sitting in a chair in the hall of one of the hospitals wings half asleep and half sliding out of the chair and quickly rushes over kneeling in front of him placing a hand on his knee. Fury opens his eyes slowly before rubbing the bottom of his palm into one of his eyes and sitting up more taking a deep breath in through his nose and letting out before yawning. Phil is about to say something when a doctor finally comes through the doors carrying a clip board and dressed in surgical gear covered in blood and looks almost as tired as Fury and by now it’s already been twenty-four hours since the arrest of Howard and the search for tony started. 

“I assume your Director Fury” The doctor asks taking a seat across the hall from them

“I am, how’s the boy?” Fury asks watching the doctor

“I wish I could say he’s going to be fine but you would know I’m lying” The doctor is serious but he still smiles 

“He gonna make it?” Fury asks giving a small smile

“He’ll make it, I have no doubts about that. He always does” The doctor said the last bit sounding like he knows something they don’t know

“So, what going on Doc” Fury says trying to fit the doctor into this crazy puzzle of the Starks

“Well, he did overdose on the pain medication, he has two broken ribs, four badly bruised ribs, a broken wrist, bruises and cuts along both legs some of which required stitches, both arms were bruised and cut as well, he had a broken collar bone, his left shoulder dislocated, glass in his back, a badly split lip we had to stitch up, a black eye, cuts from being dragged along his face and a fractured skull.” When the doctor finished Phil thought he would be sick and Fury was just silent

“He’ll be hospitalized for the next two weeks. I’ll bring you his hospital record” the doctor got up and left then

Fury and Phil sat in silence for a few moments before Phil got up and went to make some calls to the older kids in the group home to look after themselves and the others for a few days minimum before he and Fury could come home. While Phil called the group home Fury called the team and home based and got updated on what was going and other stuff related to the case before debriefing and giving out orders to his second in command to give to others. Fury was gone when Phil returned so he decided to just wait in the kid’s room, which might have been the wrong idea Phil thought once he entered the room. The teen was hooked up to all kinds of machines and covered in bandages, Phil stood in the doorway for a moment just staring at the teen before walking in and picking up the teens chart and checking the name ‘Anthony Edward “Tony” Stark’ the chart read. Phil sat in the chair closest the foot of the bed and closeted his eyes leaning forward so his forehead rested against fisted hands elbows braced on knees, and just felt incredibly guilty that he was rushing Nick and being such an ass which could have resulted in Nick being too late to bring the boy back.

Phil jolted as someone tapped his head with something heavy making his eyes snap open and hand reach for the gun that isn’t there on his belt, he looked up as the heavy object is taken off his head and saw Fury sitting down beside him in another chair in his lap a very large file with the name “Anthony Edward “tony” Stark” typed across it. The two sat and talked in hushed tone for a few hours watching as nurses and doctors wandered in and out checking up on the teen before finally being relieved by another SHEILD agent to go have something to eat. The two were walking down the nearly empty hospital halls nearing the cafeteria when Phil’s cell began to ring and the stopped so Phil could answer it. 

“Hello? Phil speaking” Phil said as he leaned against the wall of the hallway   
“Hey Phil, its Sam” the voice said, Sam was one of the older boys in the group home

“Oh, Sam what’s wrong?” Phil asked taking a peek at the file Fury was reading

“Nothing wrong, just me and the others were wondering what’s going on” while Sam was talking you could voices in the back ground

“Ah, well Nick caught a case and this one is really bad so we’ll be at the hospital for at least two weeks, but I’ll try and drop by when I can” Phil said as he stopped Fury from flipping the page so he could finish reading it

“Oh .. Um.. Well” Sam was cut off when someone else took the phone

“Don’t worry Phil, we’ll be fine just take care of whatever you need to” It was Natasha one of the oldest who hung up on him before he could reply, Phil stared at the phone for a second before running a few steps to catch up to Nick who had already started walking again

….

It takes a week before they take tony off the medical induced coma, during that time Phil has gone back twice to the group home and some of Tony’s injuries had healed up and he was looking much better now that some had healed and most of the machines were gone. It took another day for tony to actually wake up.

Tony woke slowly his body hurt but he could tell he was in a hospital and he could feel the IV and other needles sticking into him, the mask felt heavy on his face and he could feel the pull of stiches on his face. He blinked awake the lights stinging at first but by the time he opened his eyes they had adjusted to the light and he could look around with no pain from the light but what he didn’t expected to be beside his bed was someone other than his father’s body guards sitting in the room chairs. The man sitting there didn’t look familiar he was tall and had a big build, he had dark brown skin and a black eye patch, he was wearing a dark grey hoodie with a light grey shirt and dark washed jeans stuffed into dark combat boots but tony could still see the outlines of guns against his upper body and he was reading Tony’s file. 

“You’re not one of dads who are you?” tony managed to say though it was scratchy and weak

“You’re right I’m not, I’m the head of SHEILD” Fury said shutting the file and looking over at tony

“Hahaha well that’s a surprise” tony managed to wheeze out 

“you look for someone who seems to die a lot” Fury said crossing his arms over his chest and then crossing his legs

“not as hard as you might think” Tony manages even though his face is contorted into controlled pain

“Rest you’ve been in a coma for a week” Fury said turning off the rooms lights

“whatever you say captain crunch” tony wheezes out through broken ribs before closing his eyes asleep in minutes

Fury waits a minute before texting Phil an update and waving down a nurse to give her an update as well before sitting back down reopening the file to where he last left off. Phil who was collecting the duffel bag from evidence when he got the text quickly signed it out and when to his car and drove off back to the hospital anxiety coursing through him. When tony wakes up in a few hours it’s not as peaceful as before this time he wakes up in a jerking motion body arching off the bed pulling at stitches, bandages, and wires. Eyes snapping open unseeing as he falls into seizure like fit the machines attached to him going crazy sounding alarms and nurses and doctors come flooding in while Fury jerks up right on alert. Phil who had just entered the floor could see through the rooms window as tony entered the seizure like fit and could feel his throat close and heart stop as he stops head in his tracks in the middle of the hall eyes only seeing the body of the teen jerk around. Phil feels his body pushed and jerked as nurses and doctors rush past him bumping into him and he can feel the duffel bag slip from his fingers and fall to the floor with a muted thump as Nick is pushed out of the room as the blinds are closed and the room is closed off. 

Phil and Nick wait pacing the hall outside the room as they can hear shouting and can only imagining what is going on behind closed door but both don’t feel good about it. It takes an hour before the room is finally emptied of nurses and doctors and they can go back in only nothing feels the same any more the room is full of the smell of medicine and blood, the air is tense and restless. Tony doesn’t look any different but the image of him jerking is burned into their memory and now Nick has this and the image of Tony’s nearly dead body being found burned into his memory and he already has trouble sleeping as it is. They didn’t put him back in a coma but that was still an option if they needed it to be but their willing to try again on letting him heal without being in a coma even with the very recent scare. Tony doesn’t wake for another two days and this time it’s less violent but it’s not peaceful either he woke arching off the bed slightly sucking in a giant gulp of air and his eyes snapping open.

“It’s okay, you’re okay, you’re okay” Phil says rushing up from his chair rushing out in calm tones as he gently pushes the teen back onto the bed

“Relax kid take your time” Fury says leaning forward in his chair watching the boy carefully

“That’s it just breath” Phil says as tony starts to settle down

“Here” Phil says handing tony a cup of ice chips

“I don’t like to be handed things” Tony manages to wheeze out between gulping down breaths as he watches the cup like it’ll hurt him

“Okay that’s okay” Phil says sneaking a glance a Nick as he puts back down the cup 

“We have something we need to talk to you about” Fury says watching the boy calm down

“Yeah I figured let’s go then” Tony said reaching up to press the palms of his hands over his eyes to scrub

“With you father locked away do you have someone you can stay with?” Phil asks

“No” Tony says as he pauses scrubbing his eyes

“Okay will you stay at a group home then?” Phil asks silently praying for a yes

“I’ll give it a shot how about that” Tony says putting down his hands

“That would be great” Phil says smiling in relief

“I thought you ask about Mommina” Tony said with a huff and a smirk

“Do you know what happened to her?” Fury asked feeling a shot of unnerving energy shoot through him

“Hahahaha” Tony just laugh, a cold laugh full of hidden meanings

“We’ll take home at the end of the week” Phil said looking away and getting up leaving the room with Fury behind him as Tony’s laugh followed them out


	2. Chapter 2

They brought Tony clothes, simple dark blue jeans a little too big, his own shoes and they gave him some white socks, a plain red long sleeve shirt and a grey hoodie for him to wear. Tony wondered where his bag was thinking it was maybe being held by SHIELD or maybe these people- sorry Phil and Nick had it and simply where holding onto it for him or whatever not like there was much in it but still it would be nice to have his things back at least. It's Nick who walks him down and out of the hospital towards a black SUV with Phil as the driver, Phil seemed nice but was skittish and made Tony frustrated? he didnt know but something about the man made him feel strange. He liked? Nick he was closed off, cold but somehow kind and had a good intuition on things, look Tony wasnt good with people and feelings he doesnt know much of whats going on so give him a break, besides an inner monologue doesnt exactly sane now does it. The SUV was warm Tony thought from the back seat bag in his lap hands wringing the straps lightly as he looked out the window they were heading to the edge of the city not out in the middle of nowhere but not in the centre of town either, farther than his own home-no not his home, Howards home. Where mama was buried Tony thought, deep under the house in a locked chest covered in chains, beneath the floor boards of the his bedroom right under his bed where Howard put her just to disturb his son even further. He was five and that was nine years ago he's now fourteen she had been in her early years now old younger than Howard. Tony still remembers her like it was yesterday, a mental image burned into his very smart and very vibrate mind there was no way he would forget her or how she died; she was average size with an hourglass shape, like Tony she had cinnamon coloured skin with dark brown freckles, she had dark chocolate wavy hair that hung down her back and tawny coloured eyes. Many people who saw him said he looked just like her and Tony cant deny that but it doesnt make him feel any better and that was literal because it made Howard angry, and if Tony was feeling really nasty and itching for a beating he would act like her just to stir his father up made it agony for him so he would remember her and what he did and now he has two haunted images coming at him and Tony would get double the usual beating but it was worth it. 

_"Bambino" The voice called like cold honey just ask sweet_

_"Mama" Tony thought looking at the seat next to him, his mother sat beside him looking like an angel dressed in a white dress_

_"Dove stiamo andando?" She asks looking at him confused slightly_

_"Non lo so, ma stiamo andando lontano dal padre" Tony says as the come to a gravel drive way leading to a large compound_

_"Ti amo. vieni a trovarmi presto" She says before she leans in to kiss his forehead and vanishes just as her lips touched his skin_

_"Io prometto" Tony says as the car stops_

"Here we are then" Phil says forcing a smile as they climb out of the car and head to the front door

"We have a few other kids living here as well, I hope you dont mind" Phil says looking at him nervously 

He clears his throat slightly nervous when Tony says nothing and leads him inside Nick comes in behind him and closes the door. They head into the living room or common room, whatever it was a big room with couches and shit to find a group of teens sitting around they smile and call out to Phil and Nick before noticing the boy between the two men. Phil introduces the group to him, theres Steve, Sam, Bruce, Natasha, Clint, and James before Nick introduces Tony who just stays silent as his dead eyes seem to track something that isnt there making the air slightly colder and Phil clears his throat unnerved again by the boy before Nick shows Tony to his room. Alone in his room Tony unpacks slowly before sitting on the bed, he never bothered to turn on the lights, he waits a few minutes doing nothing before he leans down and looks under the bed and unsurprisingly nothing, not even an ominous feeling like at home. He didnt like it. Tony waits in his room for three days before someone comes looking for him, it's Nick; apparently he has a doctors appointment and needs to meet a therapist. He doesnt want to but he doesnt say as much because he would rather talk to these people as little as possible so thats how Tony ends up back in the SUV in baggy black sweatpants tucked into some UGGs (shut up they're comfy) with a plain white long sleeve and his mop of curls pinned back by a few bobby pins, his phone in his hand. It seems like a long time before they're back in town and finally see the doctor, he says Tony is doing well and removes some of the bandages before they are sent on their way and go meet the therapist. Her name is Emma Frost, she's pretty tall with curly blonde hair and blue eyes she wears diamonds and a white dress suit, she seems tough therefore Tony might like her; he likes how she gets Nick out of the room and glares at the closed door for a minute before turning to him, she keeps it real no fake anything. He likes her.

"Hello Anthony" She says. She sounds like mom Tony thinks but less honey more glass

"...." Tony just stares back

"Sono qui per te e tu solo" She says as if she knows and Tony smiles slow and razor sharp

"I like you" Tony says voice rough like glass dipped in honey

"All the more" She says her own smile soft and cold

"Please call me Emma" She - no Emma says

"Tony" Says well says Tony

"Do you know why your here?" Emma asks arranging her papers and beginning to write

"Because people think because of abuse and blah blah blah I need a shrink" Tony says uninterested

"Correct but I'm here for you and I know that you could use some help piccola conchiglia" Emmas says not looking up from where she's writing

"I dont think I need help but you might say im twisted in the mind" Tony says shrugging on shoulder softly 

They talk for a few hours and Tony shares more that he expected including the fact his mother haunts him, well haunts the wrong word she wouldnt haunt him more like looks over him and such, Emma doesnt seem surprised and in fact she thinks it might be something good which Tony found was reliving and he and Emma become very close and seem to have made a lifetime partnership. Nick takes Tony back to the compound with the notebook Emma gave him to write in and her number for him to call at anytime, Nick seems more relaxed and lets Tony go back to his room when they get back but only after he made Tony take an apple to at least have something. As soon as his room door shuts Tony sees Maria sitting on the edge of the bed legs crossed at the ankle a breeze ruffling her hair and the curtain but there was no breeze, this time they dont talk but instead bask in each others company before she's gone and the curtains stop moving and slid back to normal.

New of Howards arrest reaches everywhere and Tony starts planning to go back to the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dove stiamo andando. where are we going
> 
> non lo so, ma stiamo andando lontano dal padre. i don’t know but we are going far away from father
> 
> ti amo. vieni a trovarmi presto. i love come find me soon
> 
> lo prometto. i promise
> 
> sono qui per te e tu solo. im here for you and you alone
> 
> piccola conchiglia. little shell


End file.
